Apparatus for conditioning steel blanks



9 1945. P. KRUSE JAFPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING STEEL BLANKS Filed July 15, 1943 A 2, 21,15 I A Patented May 15, 1945 APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING STEEL BLANKS Peter Kruse, New York, N. Y.

Application July 15, 1943, Serial No. 494,791

7 Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus for conditioning steel blanks which are to be later formed into can bodies, and provides improvements therein.

The fiexure of steel used for blanks for forming can bodies varies. When these blanks are used in a machine known as body-maker, and are wrapped around the horn, they usually bend around the horn in a series of flats and often assume a distorted shape upon leaving the horn; a round body, for example, may have an elliptical form. The distorted shape causes trouble in the soldering operation. The bodies do not contact the solder roll properly, resulting in too much solder being applied and sometimes in solder getting on the inside of the can-body. Too much solder at the lapped part of the seam, which part forms part of the flange which is formed into a seam with the curled edge of a can top or end, results in leakage and spoilage of the contents of the can.

The present invention provides an apparatus for conditioning the steel body blanks so that they bend uniformly, without breaking into a series of flats, around the horn, and maintain a symmetrical form in or on the solder horn. The invention operates to obtain the desired effects with types of steel plate, notably steel plate coated electrolytically with tin. with which previously used means have not operated to give satisfactory, or the desired, effects. The apparatus is usually an attachment to, or a part of a bodymaker.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a transverse vertical section through an apparatus embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical elevation of parts at one side of the apparatus, the view being at 90 to the view of Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of parts shown in Fig. 1, the parts shown in Fig. 3 being for removing curvature which may be left in the blank after treatment. and the parts shown in Fig. 4 being an ejector operative when a double feed of blanks occurs.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the method of bending the blanks.

Referring to the drawing, numeral Ill designates a plate which may serve as a support for the parts of the apparatus. It is usually a part of, or attached to, a body-maker; in Fig. 1 only the reed bars of the body-maker are shown. Numerals l3, l3, designate auxiliary feed-bars of well known construction which operate to advance body blanks X which are either fed one at a time to the feed-bars by hand or from an automatic blank-feed device (not shown). Numerals H, H, designate the main feed-bars, also of well known construction, which receive blanks from the conditioning apparatus shown in the drawing and advance them to various stations in the body-maker.

Numeral l6 designates a bending roll and nu meral l8 designates a second bending roll, around which the blanks are pulled lengthwise and bent to condition them.

Means are provided for pulling the blanks rapidly around the rolls l6 and I8. These means may comprise feed rollers 20, 2|, and a feed roller 23 acting in conjunction with the bending roll IS. The feed roller 20 may also act in conjunction with the bending roll l8 to pull the .blank.

Blank fed by the auxiliary feed bars l3, l3 may be pushed into the feed rollers 20, 2| by suitable means, such as that shown, and which may comprise a pusher-slide 25 which is given a reciprocating motion by a bell-crank 21 operated by a rod 29 having a roller 3| thereon which travels in a cam-groove 33 in a disk on a shaft 35 journaled in a hanger 31 and rotated in any suitable manner. as by a driving connection to a body-maker (not shown) The feed rollers 20. -2i, 23, are rotated. When the bending rolls l6 and It not also in conjunction with the feed rollers, as shown in the illustrated embodiment, they likewise are driven. Each of the rollers 20, 2|, 23, and rolls l6 and I8 have intermeshing gears keyed thereto, shown in Fig. 2. One of the rolls or rollers, as the roll l6, has a pulley 5| thereon which is driven in suitable manner from a, motor 44, as by means of a belt 45. The other rolls and rollers are likewise driven through the intermeshing gears.

The bending rolls l6 and I8 are cylindrical or straight rolls of small circumference, the circumference in practice being somewhat less than half the length of a ten inch can blank, or about one and one-half inches in diameter. They need not be exactly one and one-half inches in diameter. but they should be approximately that, so that the blanks receive a sharp. quick, reflex bend, as will be hereinafter described.

Blanks are fed through body-makers at from 200-400 per minute. and the speed of the feed rolls is such that the blank is pulled rapidly through the roll assembly, the speed of travel of a blank from receiving to delivered position being from about one-tenth to one-twentieth of a second.

The rollers 2| and 22, and also the roll 18, are

mounted in blocks 50, SI, 52, which are slidable in the machine frame and which are resiliently pressed toward the companion rolls or rollers by means of springs 55. The movement of the blocks II, II, I2 toward the companion rolls is stopped or limited so that the circumferences of the rolls are spaced something less than the thickness of a blank, and while they do not actually touch, they virtually do. 7

Means are provided for holding the blank against the bending rolls during the bending. The feed rolls 20, 2!, 23 (with it) and 20 (with ll) act to hold the blank against the rolls IO, M and 20. For the same purpose, a bar 60 having an arcuate portion BI is provided. The curvature of the arcuate portion 6| conforms t that oi roll it. The bar 80 is spaced from the roll It so that the distance between the convex surface of the roll and the concave surface of the bar is the same or slightly greater than the thickness of the blank X. The bar 60 may be pressed toward roll I by a spring 63, the movement toward the roll being limited in a suitable manner, as by nuts 65 on bolts attached to the bar. By this construction blanks which may be thicker (in whole or in spots) than the general run, will not jam in the apparatus. The length 01' the arc of the arcuate portion Si is a substantial part of the circumference of roll l6, here shown as being somewhat over 90.

A deflector may be provided for preventing the jamming of the apparatusby an inadvertent feed of two blanks together. See Figs. 1 and 4. The deflector comprises a plate 10 normally just above the feed level of the blanks and located behind the feed rolls 20, 2!. The plate 10 is carried by pivoted arms 13. In operative relationship with the bearing block SI! for feed roller 2|, there is a pivoted lever 15. One arm of lever can receive motion from block 50, and the other arm thereof can transmit motion to the plate 10 through a link or rod connection 11. Contact between lever 15 and block 50 may be through an adjusting screw 19. When two superposed blanks are inadvertently fed between feed rollers 20, 2|, the roller 2| rises, carrying with it its bearing block 50, which latter imparts a turning movement to lever 15, and the lever 15 acting through the rod connection 11 depresses the plate 10 to a position below the line of feed of the blanks, and thereby deflects the blanks from a path leading to the bending roll I 6, and thereby stops the progress through the apparatus, and any associated machine, of the double-fed blanks, and prevents a jam.

Sometimes, after passing over the bending rolls, the metal plate from which the blanks are cut may be such that the blank will have a slight curvature (will not be flat). To correct this, a' means may be provided; see Figs. 1 and 3. The aforesaid means may comprise flattening plates 80, 8|, located after the feed rollers l8, 2|, and spaced so as to receive between them the blanks as they are, fed out. One of the plates, as the plate Ill, may be mounted on pivoted arms 83, which arms may be acted on by an adjusting screw and an oppositely acting spring 87. By turning the screw 85 the angle of incidence of the plate 80 to the blank fed out or delivered by curvature.

Operation Blanks x are fed'one at a time to the feed rollers 20, 2|. They are successively pulled and bent over bending rolls of small circumference, the bending being through an arc of substantially more than 180 (the are being about 220' in the construction shown) and then in an opposite directlon through an are less than 180 and usually about From feed rollers 2|, 2|, the blank X is bent around bending roll I 8 more than and then around bending roll ll about 90' in the reverse direction, being pulled by the feed rollers 20, 2|, 23 (with roll I6), 20 (with roll II), and rolls l6 and I! which also act together as feed rollers. The feed rollers serve to hold the blank against the bending rolls, and the bar 60 with the arcuate portion 6| also acts to hold the blank against the bending roll it.

The bending action described conditions the blank X for use in body-makers. The blanks are fed in flat and are ordinarily discharged flat. Any slight curvature may be removed by the flattening plates 80, 8| (Fig. 3) in the manner previously described. The conditioned blanks, when folded around the horn of a body-maker, flex evenly and do not break down into a, series of narrow flats, as do blanks cut out from much of the steel plate supplied for can-making, particularly steel plate electrolytically coated with tin, when not conditioned properly and adequately. Moreover, the can bodies formed from the conditioned blanks retain a symmetrical form in the soldering attachment after leaving the forming horn of the body-maker (do not peak) and there is thereby avoided excessive use of solder, and also solder on the inside of the can bodies. The conditioning action, according to my understanding, is to even the stresses in the steel plate and also to increase to some extent the stiflness of the plate so that it bends evenly.

The deflector 10 (through the action or feed roller 2|, bearing block 50, lever 15, and connecting rod 1'!) acts to eject blanks when two are inadvertently fed together, in the manner previously described.

The conditioning apparatus is usually used in conjunction with a body-maker. In such association, blanks may be fed laterally from auxiliary body-maker feed bars I 3, by a feed slide 25 to the feed rollers 20, 2!. The conditioned blanks X may be discharged onto the main feed bars I of the body-maker.

In defining the arc through which the blank is bent as more than 180 a substantial angular excess is implied, as for example, an angular excess of 15 or more; and a substantial arc is implied in defining the reverse arc of bending as less than 180, as for example, an angular reverse arc of 15 or more.

The invention may receive other embodiments than that herein specifically illustrated and described.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for conditioning steel blanks which are to be later formed into bodies for cans, comprising a straight bending roll, means for holding a blank against said roll through an arc of more than 180, an adjacent straight bending roll, means for holding the blank against said adjacent bending roll in an arc reverse to the first, and means for rapidlypulling a blank over the said bending rolls.

2. Apparatus for conditioning steel blanks which are to be later formed into bodies for cans, comprising a straight bending roll, means for holding a blank against said roll through an arc of more than 180, an adjacent straight bending roll, means for holding the blank against said adjacent bending roll in an arc reverse to the first,

and straight feed rolls for contacting the blank before and after passing over said bending rolls for rapidly pulling a blank over said bendin rolls,

3. Apparatus for conditioning steel blanks, according to claim 2, further comprising a feed roll intermediate said bending rolls.

4. Apparatus for conditioning steel blanks, according to claim 1, said pulling means comprising a pair of feed rollers in advance of the first aforesaid bending roll, and further comprising a deflector normally positioned above a sheet bein fed to the bending roll, one of said feed rollers being movable away from the other, a linkage between said deflector and said movable feed roller, said movable feed roller acting, upon its displacement by two superposed blanks, through said linkage, to move said deflector to a position below said blanks and elect them.

5. Apparatus for conditioning steel blanks which are to be later formed into bodies for cans, comprising a straight bending roll, means for holding a blank against said roll through an are of more than 180, an adjacent straight bending roll, means for holding the blank against said adjacent bending roll in an arc reverse to the first, and means for rapidly pulling a blank over the said bending rolls, said means for holding the blank against the roll when being bent upon itself through an arc of more than 180 comprising a bar alongside the roll having an arcuate face corresponding to the curvature of the roll, said arcuate face being spaced from the surface of the roll by about the thickness of the blank, so that the blank is held closely on the roll during bending.

6. Apparatus for conditioning steel blanks, accor ing to claim 1, further comprising means for removing any curvature of the blank on leaving the rolls, comprising a pair of flattening plates, immediately adjacent the last roll of the series, between which the blank passes, and means for adjusting its angle of incidence to the leading portion of the blank, of one of said plates to vary the action of the flattening plates to the amount of curvature to be removed from the blanks.

'7. Apparatus for conditioning steel blanks which are to be later formed into bodies for cans, comprising three straight bending rolls of small circumference, the axes of the rolls being closely adjacent and the circumference of one of the rolls making virtual contact with the circumferences of the other two rolls, and means for pulling a blank through the bending roll assembly rapidly, the blank in passing through the roll assembly, being bent upon itself through an arc of more than 180, and then in a reverse direction through an arc of about 90.

PETER KRUSE. 

